When receiving contents as data such as music from a predetermined server over a network, a user transmits to a registration server data pertinent to the user, such as name or an E-mail address, prior to reception of contents, for registration of the transmitted data pertinent to the user.
When the registration is finished, the registration server transmits a key necessary for authentication processing to an information processing apparatus of the user.
In such registration, the user has to select a registration form or a server furnishing the contents, in meeting with the language or an apparatus used, which means a laborious operation.
On the other hand, the server has to execute two operations of registering a user and issuing a key, thus imposing significant processing load to render expeditious processing difficult.
Moreover, since the location of the registration server is obvious, illicit aggression is liable to occur, with the result that processing load for dealing with the aggression tends to be increased.